Stress is Necessary: Run

A few weeks ago, a coach told me: "stress is necessary." At first I looked at him in wonder. Then, he went on to tell me that in order to grow - in order to get stronger, faster, better, etc. - we have to experience stress. But, he said, after that period of stress, we have to relax. In fact, he has me training in intervals:

stress
relax
stress
relax

run hard for 1 minute
run relaxed for 2 minutes
run hard for 90 seconds
run relaxed for 3 minutes

Doing these "small things" over and over, he told me, would wind up benefiting me overall by making my running times faster, and easier.

In reading some books over the past week, I ca